Headlines

The storied brokerage firm of Lorentzen & Co. has declared bankruptcy after years of losses, changing its name and moving in a new direction after more than 100 years in operation, the Maritime Executive reported. Lorentzen & Co. was founded in 1919 by four brothers from the prominent Norwegian shipping family of the same name. It has had a concentration in dry bulk broking, but has had staff working in other segments as well. Its operations have lost money in recent years, and in 2022 it announced that it would be downsizing its team.

Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley has been plunged into a multimillion-pound bankruptcy row with a Greek shipping tycoon, The Telegraph reported. Ms Staveley, who helped Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund acquire the Premier League club in 2021, has asked the High Court to prevent shipping magnate Victor Restis from forcing her into bankruptcy, new filings reveal. Mr Restis claims Ms Staveley has failed to repay a loan of more than £35m that dates back to over a decade.

Egypt looked past a pick-up in inflation to keep interest rates unchanged for a second month, with the central bank’s next bout of monetary tightening likely hinging on the country’s ability to secure the foreign exchange needed to manage another currency devaluation, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Committee on Thursday maintained the deposit rate at 18.25% and the lending rate at 19.25%, in a decision that matched the forecasts of most economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The Bank of Mexico maintained its benchmark interest at 11.25% on Thursday for the second time, signaling it will hold the rate "for an extended period" as inflation in Latin America's second largest economy slows but remains above the bank's target, Reuters reported. The unanimous decision by the central bank's five-member board was in line with analysts' forecasts and came as data shows annual inflation at its lowest in more than two years.

Zambia has clinched a deal to restructure more than $6 billion in debts owed to other governments, a French official said on Thursday in a long-awaited breakthrough to ease pressure on the southern African country's strained public finances, Reuters reported. Zambia in 2020 became the first African country to default on its sovereign debt during the COVID-19 pandemic and has struggled since in protracted negotiations to agree a deal on the $12.8 billion of external debt it was trying to restructure.

The Dominican Republic's real economic growth is projected to decelerate slightly to around 4% this year due to delayed effects of financial tightening and lower global demand, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The Caribbean country's economy is expected to return to its trend of about 5% expansion next year, as global financial conditions and the world economy recover, the IMF said in a statement. Read more.

China will continue to provide assistance "within its capabilities" for Sri Lanka's economic and social development, China Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Sunday, Reuters reported. Qin Gang, in a meeting with Sri Lanka counterpart Ali Sabry in Beijing, said China is willing to consolidate and expand the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, according to a statement on the foreign ministry's website. Read more.

Belgium's FSMA regulator on Friday ordered Binance to cease offering any virtual currency services in the country, adding to pressure on the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Reuters reported. Binance, which was founded by Changpeng Zhao in Shanghai in 2017, has grown to dominate the crypto industry but also faces scrutiny from regulators keen to clamp down on money-laundering. It has consistently defended its business practices.

The Bank of England raised interest rates by a bigger-than-expected half a percentage point on Thursday after it said there had been "significant" news suggesting British inflation would take longer to fall, Reuters reported. The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 7-2 to raise its main interest rate to 5% from 4.5%, its highest since 2008 and its largest rate increase since February, following stickier inflation and wage growth since its policymakers met last in May.

The Swiss National Bank raised its policy interest rate by 25 basis points on Thursday as the central bank pressed ahead with its campaign to dampen stubborn inflation and signalled that more tightening was likely to come, Reuters reported. Chairman Thomas Jordan pointed to rising inflationary pressures and the danger of price increases becoming entrenched as the SNB hiked Swiss rates for the fifth time in succession. Although Swiss inflation ebbed to 2.2% in May from 2.6% in April, there was still more work to be done to tackle rising prices, Jordan told reporters.